Italy permits recreational hunting of millions of turtle doves
The government is permitting the continuation of autumn hunting, despite the species having been classified as “endangered” since 2015.
The Italian government has granted its approval for recreational hunting of European turtle doves, to take place in autumn.
7.5 million birds released for recreational hunting
With approximately 500,000 licensed recreational hunters in Italy, the quota of 15 doves per wildlife killer between 1 and 21 September amounts to 7.5 million birds! The European Commission estimates that between 3 and 11 million European turtle doves remain on the continent.
The turtle dove was Germany’s “Bird of the Year” in 2020. Its numbers have been in freefall since the 1970s. In Europe, a decline of 50% has been recorded over the past 16 years. In countries such as the United Kingdom, the decline is over 90%.
Protected in Switzerland
In Switzerland, the turtle dove is not among the huntable species; it is also protected in Germany. Since 2015, it has been listed on the Red List of endangered bird species. The Swiss population is estimated at between 600 and 2,000 breeding pairs.
Recreational hunting of this species is not sustainable and will accelerate the decline until no birds are left. The Italian hunting association has lobbied hard to shoot the very last turtle doves from the sky.
Axel Hirschfeld, spokesperson for the Committee Against Bird Slaughter
The turtle dove is today’s equivalent of North America’s passenger pigeon, which was hunted to extinction. However you look at it, recreational hunting is simply wrong.
More on the subject of recreational hunting: In the dossier Poaching and hunting crime in Switzerland we document cases, legal questions and recurring patterns. The scientific evidence is presented in the overview Studies on the Effects of Recreational Hunting.
The position of IG Wild beim Wild: IG Wild beim Wild rejects recreational hunting. Our model is the canton of Geneva, which has managed without recreational hunting since 1974: without hunting seasons, without hunting dogs, without driven hunts, without high seats, without the animal cruelty and crime that go hand in hand with hunting season elsewhere. What has worked there for over fifty years disproves every position paper by JagdSchweiz. An association that bases its policy on claims it refutes in its own documents is not a professional organisation, but a factory for misinformation.
